Günter Zimmermann

Diploma of Professional Counselling, Certificate of Biography Consultancy & Counselling

Personal & Career Counselling

Life Crises, Transitions & Turning Points in Life

Search for Purpose, Meaning & Direction

Self-development inner Growth

Günter holds a Diploma in Professional Counselling, and a Certificate in Biography Consultancy & Counselling. He is a qualified member of the Australian Counselling Association (ACA).

Günter has over 25 years experience in the corporate world and holds also a Degree in Communications Engineering. He is currently working in a multinational company in an IT management role

In 1998, he met Biography Work in Germany, which became a turning point in his life and lead him to train as a Biography Counsellor. In order to also work therapeutically using Biography Work as the basis for a contemporary counselling, he also undertook further training in counselling.

Over the past 18 years, Günter has been actively involved in the Anthroposophical Society in Australia, and has been giving lectures and workshops in and around Melbourne on mediation, spiritual development and other social themes.

In his style of counselling, Günter brings together his understanding of the anthroposophical view of the human being and human development, his enthusiasm for Biography Work, and his knowledge in mainstream counselling therapies to work in a holistic and contemporary way to help people to take charge of their lives.

Günter is available Tuesday evenings and Saturdays 9 am to 12 pm by appointment

Individual Sessions are between 45 and 60 minutes

What is Biographical Counselling?

The Principle of Biography Work

Biography Work has been developed out of the anthroposophical vision of man and the biographical laws of human development as researched by Dr. Philosophy. Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925).

Biographical Counselling works at the boundary between healing and self-development. It aims to help people to better comprehend their biographical journey and to bring sense and meaning into their lives.

Exploring our Life’s Journey

Biography Work is oriented towards the future and is a way of personal self development. It helps us to gain self knowledge through exploring our life’s journey. Becoming aware of our possibilities, strengths and hidden impulses stimulates inner and outer growth, and we feel more able to truly develop our own unique answers to our life questions.

Biography Work is based on the understanding that the human life unfolds in specific rhythms and developmental stages. Mapping key events of our life into a “Life Chart” leads us to an increased awareness of our individual life themes and forms a starting point to decipher our life’s script.

By focussing on the different qualities and experiences of our 7-year phases, by becoming aware of challenges that we are facing again and again, and by discovering how events in the past have influenced events in the future, our life story becomes more transparent and meaningful. Such an exploration of life will put us in touch with the hidden director of our life’s journey and we begin to understand more of the individuality that is behind our actions, decisions, and values.

As a result we may learn how crises and turning points in life provide keys for change and growth and we may develop to who we truly are.

How is Biography Work applied?

Individual Biographical Counselling

Fundamental to individual consultancy and counselling are the individual’s personal challenges and questions of life; questions about the past, or arising out of acute biographical crises, or concerning developments for the future. The counselling goals and the number of counselling sessions are individually agreed. Both short and long term support is possible.

Biographical Workshops

These workshops facilitate thorough explorations of various biographical themes (e.g. midlife crisis, learning from life events) through individual work, conversation and artistic exercises. The understanding of general biographical aspects and the sharing of experiences with other participants will enrich the way of perceiving one’s own life with new eyes. The workshops are conducted in small groups and are held over several weekends or several weeknights.

Biographical Counselling And Health & Well-being

In 1997, A. Antonovsky (1923-1994), a sociologist and stress researcher, coined the term “salutogenesis”, which in Latin means “origin, creation of health”. He proposed that the key factor in achieving health is a person’s sense of coherence.

“We are coming to understand health not as the absence of disease, but rather as process by which individuals maintain their sense of coherence (i.e., sense that life is comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful) and ability to function in the face of changes in themselves and their relationships with their environment.” Aaron Antonovsky (1987), Unravelling the Mystery of Health: How People Manage Stress and Stay Well

Biographical Counselling can achieve this sense of coherence by gaining a comprehension of our life and by discovering its meaningfulness. This will then empower us to better manage our life’s journey.

Biographical Counselling takes the psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of reality equally into account. This provides the basis for the biographical counsellor to create a space in which the richness and purposefulness of human life can be explored and affirmed in such a way as to liberate new forces for growth and development for the individual.